Jeff Fisher didn't deserve total control of Dolphins

The role of Carl Peterson is something again to watch after Jeff Fisher chose St Louis Rams

January 14, 2012|Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel Columnist

Jeff Fisher didn't tell the Dolphins he was off to St. Louis. Fisher's agent, Marvin Demoff, did. And Demoff didn't call Dolphins owner Steve Ross or General Manager Jeff Ireland with the news.

Demoff called Carl Peterson.

Therein lie some uncovered answers regarding the Dolphins failed courtship of Fisher and how the next, uncertain step will be conducted. But the first answer involves the question Ross is getting hammered for nationally:

Should he have given Fisher final say in personnel matters to sign him as coach?

St. Louis evidently gave Fisher such power, too. But St. Louis doesn't have a general manager. Will it get a real one now? Does it get a glorified scout knowing Fisher has control?

So the real question with the Dolphins' decision to deny Fisher the ultimate power isn't the decision itself. Few teams would have given him the business card he wanted.

The question, again, is with the alternative. It's with the sitting Dolphins' general manager, Jeff Ireland. Ross married himself to Ireland and nobody really knows who he is, what he's done, what he believes in, where he stands on football philosophy or — to get to the root of it all — why he survived this semi-regime change.

Maybe Ireland is a football savant whose advice wasn't followed by Bill Parcells. Maybe he's a survivor who ditched Tony Sparano and buddied up to Ross at the right time. Maybe there's strains of truth from each idea. Who knows just yet?

Here's what we do know: Demoff didn't consider Ireland as the front person running the coaching search. Or Ross, for that matter. At least not enough to get the thumbs-down phone call.

This brings Peterson's role back into play. There's no reason to disbelieve he's there as an "adviser," as Ross said, and loudly, against the reports that suggested Peterson would be the team president.

Nor is there any reason to think Ross shouldn't have a trusted advisor in assembling a football staff for the first time. That role is important. H. Wayne Huizenga always half-lamented he had no expertise in football and no confidant as a personal sounding board.

It's natural that Peterson, a close friend for decades, is that guy for Ross. The question as this Dolphins regime makes hires remains whether Peterson is simply sprinkling advice to be considered or setting agenda with advice to be followed.

Peterson is well-known for hiring experienced coaches in Kansas City like Marty Schottenheimer and Dick Vermeil. They won a lot of regular-season games and sold out stadiums. But the had limited post season success.

Again, it's Ross' franchise. It's his call to make. He said right at the start that he and Ireland were the ones setting the plan, interviewing the coaches and ultimately making the hire.

Peterson picked up Fisher in the helicopter with Ross, was in on all the interviews and was the guy Demoff thought should be notified on Fisher's decision.

The Dolphins move on now. There's no crying over Fisher to St. Louis. He was the No. 1 choice as a coach. But was he anyone's No. 1 as coach and general manager?

Five of the coaches involved in this weekend's playoffs games are head coaches at their first stop (Sean Payton. Gary Kubiak, Mike McCarthy and the Harbaugh brothers). There's no reason the Dolphins can't find the next one.

What's not so easy, again, is figuring exactly who's picking that coach.